Gender Roles in a Mexican-American Family - Alejandro M

Is your role in society influenced by your family’s culture? I definitely believe this to be the case within a Mexican culture. In a Mexican–American family, where there is a strong focus on family dependence and on gender specified roles, the young children may be more likely to look to their parents as models for gender maturation(Cauce and Domenech-Rodriguez 2002). More specifically, the Mexican culture influences the gender role within the family and society. The traditional gender roles of a Mexican culture are demonstrated to the children by the parents and the children are expected to follow the same. The traditional family in Mexico is led by the father. Family is the most important aspect of their culture and the father has authority over the family. The female is always treated as less important within the family by the men. The male’s role within the household is that he the leader of the family and the main breadwinner, the person who earns the most to provide for the family. The female’s only place is to stay at home. The woman should not work outside of the home in order to take care of the children and take care of the cleanliness of the home. The reason for her not allowed to work is that the wife would be less dependent of the husband in the sense of financial independence and thus would be less focused on his needs as a man (Gonzalez, 1982).

This issue is one that I feel very strongly about. The reason being that I was brought up in a Mexican household and I encountered these influences of gender roles. Since I was very young, although I was taught these traditional roles, I never agreed with them. Possibly because of the fact that I grew up as an only child by a single mother. I would notice the roles from extended family or my friend’s family, in which the women would attend to the man. Although I did not agree with this traditional role of the woman, I perceived it as a normal situation in society. Not only until I began to encounter families of other ethnicities, I realized that it was not a normal situation within all of society. There were a few similarities within the gender roles throughout other ethnicities, but the particular roles that I was encountering within my family were based only from our culture. I promised myself that when I would marry someone, I would never impose these outdated gender roles within my marriage. If my wife wanted to have successful career that involved much of her time, I would be accepting of it and I would support her unconditionally. 

Fortunately, I have practiced my promise to myself. I am currently married and have been for 4 years now. My wife, also Mexican-American, never took liking to the gender roles imposed to her by her family either. We both always share responsibilities within our family, household, and we share our efforts to earn money to provide for the former. I believe a woman and man are equal and parents should model that equality to their children.

Supporters of the community:

Brianna Pacheco

References:

Cauce, A. M., & Domenech-Rodr ́ıguez, M. (2002). Latino families: Myths and realities. In J. M. Contreras, K. A. Kerns, & A. M. Neal-Barnett (Eds.), Latino children and families in the United States (pp. 5–25). Westport, CT: Praeger Press.

Gonzalez, A. (1982). Sex roles of the traditional Mexican family: A comparison of Chicano and Anglo students' attitudes. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 13, 330-339.